Employee Engagement is Connection

Employee engagement is connection.

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When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. the sun shines not on us, but in us; the rivers flow not past, but through us. ~ John Muir

Employee engagement is:

Connection to our authentic self.

Connection to our work.

Connection to others. [Read more...]

Leadership Strength#3 – Positivity (MMP #33)

Employee Engagement Monday Morning Percolator #33

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This is part 3 of a 5 part series on leadership strength development embracing the application of StrengthsFinder 2.0.

Click here to read the first article in the series.

Here is the schedule outlining my strength focus:

  1. Maximizer (Week 1)
  2. Strategic (Week 2)
  3. Positivity (Week 3)
  4. Ideation (Week 4)
  5. Empathy (Week 5)

Here is a review of the process we are following:

  • Complete the StrengthsFinder 2.0 inventory.
  • Scan your top 5 strengths
  • Study your first strength
  • Outline strength based actions for the first week.
  • Implement your action plan
  • Review your progress
  • Repeat the the process with the next strength on your list.
  • Click here to download a one page PDF form to assist in your strength work.

Review Week 2: Your Second Strength (Strategic)

I was able to work a lot with my strategic strength this past week. I find the times before flying in airports an excellent time to use strategic thinking for the variety of projects requiring my attention. My ideas are flying long before the plane takes off.

Two specific projects had 4 significant external developments and I was able to use my strength to navigate through some of the changes that will be required because of development from competitors and the business environment. I believe that I would have missed out on my strategic strength resources had I not had a specific focus for this strength last week.

Outline Week 3: Your Third Strength (Positivity)

People who are especially talented in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.

Positivity Action Plan

  1. Keep enthusiasm alive for the variety of projects and initiatives and ensure that I communicate this with my partners and my students.

  2. I will keep a focus on this strength to prevent a positive drain when I have too many demands or feel high levels of stress.

  3. I will navigate around negative people who will not be responsive to a constructive or more positive outlook so as not to sap my own positivity.

  4. I will also take time to express thanks and gratitude immediately after seeing something I am thankful for.

How did things go with the application of your second strength and what are your plans for to apply your third strength next week?

Next Week: Review and Strength#4 – Ideation.

Photo Credit: Free Running Belfast by http://flickr.com/photos/jettloe/1314858172/

Written by  David Zinger, M. Ed.

Employee Engagement Chronicle (extra)

There has been a lot of press and information lately about the Towers Perrin Worldwide Employee Engagement Study encompassing 90,000 workers in 19 countries.

Here are some of the findings as summarized in The State:

  • Engagement is not satisfaction or happiness but the degree to which workers connect to the company emotionally, are aware of what they need to do to add value and are willing to take that action.
  • Only 21 percent of workers worldwide are “engaged” while 38 percent are either disenchanted or disengaged, according to a new survey.
  • The survey found 21 percent of workers worldwide are engaged, and another 41 percent are “enrolled,” which means they’re on the road to engagement
  • More than 80 percent of the engaged employees say they contribute to the quality of the company’s products, services and customer satisfaction, while only 40 percent of disengaged workers agree.
  • Engagement helps retention, too: About 50 percent of engaged employees say they have no plans to leave their company, versus 15 percent of the disengaged.
  • Companies with highly motivated workers enjoyed a 3.7 percent increase in operating margins and a 2 percent rise in net profits, while companies with a lower level of worker commitment saw both measures decrease slightly.
  • What employees are looking for is open communication, communication that reflects the fact that senior management really understands how the work gets done and recognizes and appreciates that.

Employee Engagement Drivers

The top 10 drivers of employee engagement across 19 countries were:

  1. Senior management sincerely interested in employee well-being  
  2. Improved my skills and capabilities over the last year
  3. Organization’s reputation for social responsibility
  4. Input into decision-making in my department
  5. Organization quickly resolves customer concerns
  6. Set high personal standards
  7. Have excellent career advancement opportunities
  8. Enjoy challenging work assignments that broaden skills
  9. Good relationship with supervisor
  10. Organization encourages innovative thinking

ZENgagement: Focused Work

Are you driving down the employee engagement road?

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Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better. ~ John Carmack

Photo Credit: Take Me to the Mountains by http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortphoto/381351022/

Employee Engagement Chronicle #3

David Zinger’s Employee Engagement Chronicle is your primary source for current news, views, reviews, and research on employee engagement. Each entry includes a link to an article or post with a short verbatim tidbit from the article. If you are intrigued, I encourage you to click on the author or source name at the start of each summary to study the entire article.

Get the Point

  • Engaged employees can answer the the questions of getting, giving, belonging and growing.
  • Leadership key: unlock engagement with strong connections.
  • Leadership: Stop standing out and start fitting in.
  • Empower to engage [Read more...]

Leadership Strength#2 – Strategic (MMP# 32)

Employee Engagement Monday Morning Percolator #32

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This is part 2 of a 5 part series on leadership strength development through the application of StrengthsFinder 2.0.

Click here to read the first article in the series.

Here is the schedule outlining my strength focus:

  1. Maximizer (Week 1)
  2. Strategic (Week 2)
  3. Positivity (Week 3)
  4. Ideation (Week 4)
  5. Empathy (Week 5)

The process of working on your strengths includes the following steps:

  • Complete the StrengthsFinder 2.0 inventory.
  • Scan your top 5 strengths
  • Study your first strength
  • Outline strength based actions for the first week.
  • Implement your action plan
  • Review your progress
  • Repeat the the process with the next strength on your list.

Click here to download a concise and colorful one page PDF form to work  on your strengths during our 5 weeks of strength training.

As we work together, you will move from weak to week to strength!

Review Week 1: Your First Strength (Maximizer)

I was able to put my maximizer strength to good work this week. A network project with one of my parnters had very rapid and acclerated growth the past week with each of us raising the bar. I was also able to spend some maximizer time with my oldest son helping him to maximize his strengths during his first year of university.

I did lose sight of numerous opportunites to apply the strength – I call this strength myopia. We have our strength right in front of us and often fail to use it in obvious situations. Before reading about the strategic strength I will review maximizer one more time.

I also learned that the combination of Maximizer and a work mantra I call GEMO (Good Enough Move On) is very significant in creating tremendous progress in projects in short periods of time. Click here to read my article on Finding GEMO. GEMO helps me get projects started and to keep them moving while maximizer help me continually make them better.

Outline Week 2: Your Second Strength (Strategic)

People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Strategic Action Plan

  1. Rather than being amused by external entertainment I will seek and nourish muse time. I need to take time to be think over projects, patterns, and pathways. One terrific place to do this will be before and during two flights I will take this week.

  2. In two meetings this week I will ensure that I think about the initatives from my strategic strength and offer different pathways to accomplish results.

  3. Strategic thinking can seem like inaction at times so I will ensure I place a high value on this strength and give it the time it deserves to unfold. I will also carry a tape recorder and paper to capture any strategic insights while spending time between activities.

  4. I have much experience in blogging and online management/leadership development and I will seek out 2 opportunites to offer my strategic perspective to others in this rapidly growing field.

Next Week: Review and Strength#3 – Positivity.

Photo Credit: 3 payers chessboard by http://flickr.com/photos/slip/272995622/

Written by  David Zinger, M. Ed.

 

ZENgagement: Chuck Norris Style

Many people would be surprised to realize that Chuck Norris is a student of Zen. 

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He wrote the book, The Secret Power Within: Zen solutions to Real Problems. Here is a short paragraph from the book on gumption and trusting your gut instinct.

The self-confidence to do these things comes from discipline and learning. As you apply these to difficult challenges, you will acquire the personal strength to go on to other successes. There will be times when you don’t know what to do, when your head dictates one course of actions, your gut another. Which to follow? Always go with your gut. If this results in a setback, so what? You can be thwarted, but not defeated. You can be delayed, but not devastated.

Photo Credit: What would Chuck Norris Do? by http://flickr.com/photos/ianmcburnie/306305661/

Employee Engagement Chronicle #2

David Zinger’s Employee Engagement Chronicle is your primary source for current news, views, reviews, and research on employee engagement.

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Each entry includes a link to an article or post with a short verbatim tidbit from the actual article. If you are intrigued I encourage you to click on the author or souce name at the start of each summary to study the entire article.

Get the points:

  • Employee engagement is a key interest for HR executives.
  • Be a leader of fresh surprise.
  • 51% of actively disengaged employees want to fire their boss.

Employee Engagement Articles:

BEST PRACTICES, LLC  offered a press release – Retain Talent and Engage Employees in 2008. Here was the introduction to the release: Talent retention, employee engagement and retirement top the list of interests among 2007′s mix of human resources executives in the Best Practices, LLC’s Global Benchmarking Council. From executive-driven research studies and collaborative participation in surveys to networking events, roundtable discussions and information exchange teleconferences, proactive HR executives shared ideas and insights that helped them succeed this year.

Anna Farmery from the engaging brand blog composed a post on ‘Starck’ Advice on Employee Engagement. She asks a very interesting question of leaders at the end of her post:  So are you a producer…a manager….a bog standard plastic juicer… Or are you a spider juicer……a leader of surprise, a manager of surprise…..one who engages through keeping the work fresh….keeping the team on their toes…constantly redefining their  leadership brand.

Kim Proctor wrote about Employee engagement: the foundation for customer engagement.  Kim cites the Gallup poll about the percentage of employees who would fire their boss based on their level of disengagement. Only 6% of engaged employees would fire their boss; 23% of not engaged employees would fire their boss; and, 51% of actively disengaged employees would fire their boss.

Photo Credit: Chronicle by http://flickr.com/photos/37996586683@N01/110367294/

Compliled by David Zinger

Employee Engagement Chronicle No. 1

NEW FEATURE: NEWS FEATURE

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David Zinger’s Employee Engagement Chronicle provides you with links and short snippets from the most recent writings in the field of Employee Engagement.

This site will feature a regular overview and links to the latest news and writing. There will be a link to an article or post and and a short verbatim tidbit from that post. If you are intrigued I encourage you to click on the author or souces name to read the entire article.

David Zinger’s Employee Engagement Chronicle stives to be your primary source to stay up to date with the news, views, reviews, and research on employee engagement.

Marlene Post wrote about failure to inspire based on the recent Towers Perrin worldwide employee engagement survey: Most of the world’s workers are just not into their jobs. And it’s not pay or benefits they blame, it’s senior management’s failure to inspire them or show an interest in their well-being. Only 21 percent of 88,600 workers surveyed online in 18 countries are “engaged,” or emotionally invested, in their jobs, according to the 2007 Global Workforce Study just released by Towers Perrin, a New York-based global professional services firm.

Tracey E. Schelmetic wrote that for HR Success consider employee engagement: Survey results from a recent International Round-table on the topic of “employee engagement” reveal that organizations with formal employee engagement programs will distance themselves from the competition, particularly in the areas of recruiting, retention and bottom-line financial results. The round-table featured industry experts and co-participants Andy Parsley and David Zinger and was attended by 70 HR professionals and business leaders from Fortune 500 companies.

Rick at Flip Chart Fairy Tales asked: Is a bit of Marxism Good for Managers: If you start from the assumption that alienation is a prevailing force, driving employees towards ever greater disengagement, you realise that management is, in part, an exercise in damage limitation. If you did nothing, your workforce would become more and more disengaged. You need to work hard to counteract this force[Read more...]

ZENgagement: Monk-Emotions

Our emotions can cause us to behave like wild monkeys. Our monkey mind can jump from emotion to emotion and before we know it the day is over and nothing was done and we leave work carrying a bunch of resentments. Over time employee engagement can seep away leaving us disengaged and dispirited.

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Our emotions can derail us and cause us to disengage from others, our work, and even ourselves.

Teachings from Tibetan monks may help us overcome our discombobulated monkey minds. Here were 10 great lessons that MabelandHarry listed derived from Tibetan monks:

  1. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson
  2. Follow the 3 R’s: Respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for all your actions.
  3. Spend some time alone each day.
  4. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
  5. Love as if you’ve never been hurt.
  6. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
  7. Once a year, go somewhere that you’ve never been before.
  8. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
  9. Don’t let a little dispute ruin a great friendship.
  10. Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values.

Photo Credit: Monkeys in the Wild by http://flickr.com/photos/babasteve/28689448/

ZENgagement: Employee Engagement Right Here and Right Now.

Thich Nhat Hanh has written a short and helpful book, The Art of Power. His writing was one of the first to introduce me to the concept of mindfulness – being present to who and where we are in the moment.

Without mindfulness we cannot experience high levels of employee engagement:

It takes training to master the art of living mindfully in the present moment. Everything has its own time — this is universal wisdom, not just Buddhist wisdom. You invest yourself one hundred percent in whatever you are doing in the moment. There are times when you have to discuss your work and business strategies. At that time, you invest one hundred percent of yourself into the practice of looking into the nature and difficulties of your business. If you are able to eat mindfully with concentration and spend time with your child mindfully with concentration, then, when the time for doing business comes, you will be able to look deeply into matters at hand and that time will be productive (p. 154).


ALL IN: 100% Employee Engagement

Today begins a new month. Are you prepared to go all in?

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Mike Morrison, the Dean of Toyota University, wrote a wonderful book: The Other Side of the Card: Where Your Authentic Leadership Story Begins. Click here to read a previous article on this book.

I also receive Mike’s newsletter and appreciate the leadership “wake up” calls he sends out.  I loved a recent newsletter about “all in.” Mike used the poker strategy of “all in” to look at when do we go “all in” at work.

Here is a section from that newsletter:

Very few of our activities ever reach this level of commitment – especially in our organizational lives where the game is much more about positioning, politics, and being opportunistic. …I am curious to know the things in your work life where you personally are “all in.”  By “all in” . . . I mean fully committed to a high-level action.  Not just, “I support the initiative but I’m still waiting to see if it gains more momentum across the organization.”  Or, worse yet, “I’m waiting for my boss to weigh in first.” When we are “all in” – we gain the special powers that come from making a commitment.  We are released from the anxiety of waiting and making small incremental gestures – and rewarded with a feeling of confidence for stepping forward.  We also gain access to the additional resources that come our way as others will always gravitate to action, meaning, and leadership. 

Where are you “all in”?  It’s a great question.  Ask your colleagues and team members.  It will give you a sense of what matters most.  It will also give you great insight into the culture – cautious or courageous?  As leaders, we live on the “other side of the card” – willing to take the kinds of risk that create meaningful change!

You can learn more about Mike Morrison and get additional resources at: www.theothersideofthecard.com

When you think about employee engagement, are you all in?

Photo Credit: all in … by http://flickr.com/photos/rezavaziri/778539866/